PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers are considering a revamp of the state's early-voting system that would make ballot-counting faster, a top priority of Republicans.
State Representative Alexander Kolodin, R-District 3, is proposing a number of changes inspired by Florida’s election system. Florida’s process isn’t perfect, but it enjoys wide voter support there, he told ABC15.
"We can have that, too, here in Arizona, if we simply learn from their example and implement the three, four reforms that we know work to give them a more secure, much faster and much more voter friendly process,” he said.
House Concurrent Resolution 2013 is a proposed ballot measure that would eliminate the current signature-verification system for mail ballots, set an earlier deadline for mail ballots and require mail voters to verify their address every election cycle.
“The first thing it does is it replaces the imprecise and antiquated signature verification process with an early voter ID number, and that's a much more objective way of identifying a voter's identity,” Kolodin said, adding that it would also be much quicker.
Currently, county election officials verify ballots by comparing the signature on the envelope to a voter’s signature on file, a time-consuming process. In-person voters verify their identity by showing ID at the polls.
Mail ballots dropped off at the polls on Election Day must also be signature-verified, slowing down election tabulation. HCR 2013 would require early ballots to be dropped off by 7 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day – a big change from current Arizona law.
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President-elect Donald Trump falsely said President Joe Biden won Arizona in 2020 because of election fraud. Two years later, Kari Lake blamed voter fraud for her loss in the governor’s race and went to court to overturn the election.
No evidence of widespread voter fraud has been found in Arizona.
Kolodin said faster results can build faith in the election system.
“I think any time that you have an excessively prolonged process of getting a complete count of the votes that the people cast, you necessarily have suspicion and distrust in elections,” he said.
Republican and Democratic legislators discussed the measure Wednesday afternoon at a House panel formed to look into Florida-inspired changes for Arizona and heard from two county recorders and the Arizona Association of Counties.
Two speakers noted that Florida has many more counties than Arizona. Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly also said Arizona's counties are much larger geographically than counties in Florida. And Jen Marson, the Arizona Association of Counties executive director, said Maricopa County has twice as many people as Miami-Dade County.
HCR 2013 would also ban foreign money for elections. Marson told lawmakers she didn’t know of any county that had used foreign money.
Kolodin, who chairs the panel that’s looking at Arizona election law, said his bill is complex and will get refined through the legislative process with the input of election officials, lawmakers and members of the public.
“That’s a process that I think can yield a really good result, a really tight piece of legislation that’s going to serve the voters of the state well for years to come,” he said at the hearing.
Governor Katie Hobbs has said she does not support any changes that would make it harder for early voters to cast a ballot, but the governor cannot veto a proposed ballot measure. If lawmakers pass HCR 2013, voters will see it on the ballot in 2026.
